MOTOR ACCIDENT INSURANCE ACT 1994 - SECT 51C
Parties to exchange mandatory final offers if claim not settled at compulsory conference
MOTOR ACCIDENT INSURANCE ACT 1994 - SECT 51C
Parties to exchange mandatory final offers if claim not settled at compulsory conference
51C Parties to exchange mandatory final offers if claim not settled at
compulsory conference
(1) If a claim is not settled at the compulsory conference, each party must
(unless the court has dispensed with this obligation) exchange written final
offers—
(a) at the conference; or
(b) if the conference has been dispensed
with—within 14 days after the date of the agreement or order dispensing with
the conference.
(2) A written final offer required under subsection (1) is
called a
"mandatory final offer" .
(3) A mandatory final offer for the upper offer
limit or less is to be exclusive of costs.
(4) If a mandatory final offer is
for more than the lower offer limit but not more than the upper offer limit,
and is accepted, costs are to be calculated and paid on a basis (but subject
to limits) stated under a regulation.
(5) Even though an insurer denies
liability altogether, the insurer must nevertheless make a
mandatory final offer but, in that event, the offer is to be expressed as an
offer of $nil.
(6) A mandatory final offer must remain open for 14 days and
proceedings must not be started while the offer remains open.
(7) If the
claimant brings a proceeding in a court based on a claim, the claimant must,
at the start of the proceeding, file at the court a sealed envelope containing
a copy of the claimant’s mandatory final offer.
(8) The insurer must,
before or at the time of filing a defence, file at the court a sealed envelope
containing a copy of the insurer’s mandatory final offer.